Twice a month, El Estoque goes to restaurants around Cupertino and takes a chance by asking the waiter to personally choose the menu items for us. This week, we continued the alphabetical theme by going to Dynasty Chinese Restaurant located at Valco Mall.
The Basics
Restaurant: Dynasty Chinese Seafood Restaurant
Location: 10123 N Wolfe Rd, #1688. Cupertino, CA 95014
Menu: http://67.225.177.152/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/dynasty_cupertino_menu_updated.pdf
Price Point: $$$ “(“$11-30”)”
Overall Rating: 3.7/5
While walking into the restaurant, I felt like I was walking into a five star restaurant in China. From the intricate chandeliers to the traditional paintings, the decor was amazing. As the waiter greeted me, I sat down at a table next to another family, and the ambience provided a significant feeling of comfort.
Appetizers
Whole Hawaiian Papaya Soup
Regular Chinese soup like egg drop soup or wonton soup is usually served in typical Chinese restaurants but when I noticed Hawaiian Papaya Soup as the soup of the day, it got me hooked. When the papaya soup was served, I realized how it looked like at first. It was a whole papaya containing soup inside. Holding a spoon, she carved the insides of the papaya and served the soup containing seafood like minced crab meat, bits of shrimp, and squid with papaya.
I observed the soup in front of me and I savored it. The sweetness of the papaya really added flavor to the rest of the soup.
Price: $9.99
Rating: 3/5
Entree
Kung Pao Chicken
Although, I’ve had Kung Pao Chicken before, I really expected it to taste the same as what I had tried at other restaurants like Mandarin Gourmet or Panda Express. This dish was more exotic and more traditional.The bell pepper, assorted vegetables, chopped peanuts and grilled chicken make this a good accompanying dish for noodles.
Price: $14.00
Rating: 3.5/5
Vegetable Chow mein
On to the most popular dish, noodles. The vegetable chow mein had very great taste. The noodles were thin, and stir fried well with steamed vegetables, such as thin carrots, steamed bok choy, broccoli, and sprouts. The exquisite flavor, soy sauce and seasoning combine to make the noodles taste irresistible.
Price: $10.00
Rating: 4.5/5
Dessert
Red Bean Soup
When the dinner was almost over, the waiter brought out the dessert: red bean soup. Red bean soup is referred to as tang shui or sugar water. The soup is made from rock sugar, sun dried tangerine peels and lotus seeds. This soup is usually served in Cantonese restaurants after a meal. I was reluctant at first, but I decided to try it out, because dessert soup seemed wild to me. The soup was sweet and the bean taste was masked by the liquid puree.
Price: $10.00
Rating: 3.5/5
Overall Experience
Although Dynasty is on the pricey side, the food is worth it. Dynasty Restaurant has been running for eleven years and it is most famous for its dim sum lunch and seafood. The ambience and wonderful decorations make this is a great place for lunch or dinner with friends and family or banquet events.
